Island



J. LANCELOTT. MAKING. ORNAMENTAL CHAINS.,

Patented Oct. 18, 1859.

Inva nor;

JAMES LANGELOTT, oF SOUTH PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

MAKING ORNAMENTAL CHAINS.

Specficaton of Letters Patent No. 25,837, dated October 18, 1859.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES LANCELOTT, of South Providence, in the countyof Providence and State of .Rhode Island, have invented a new andImproved Machine for Manufacturing Sheet- Metal Chains, the same beingmore especially designed for articles of jewelry; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description ofthe same, reference being had to the anneXed drawings, making a part ofthis specfication, in which v Figure l, is a side sectional View of myinvention taken in the line w, w, Fig. 3; Fig. 2, a front sectional viewof the same, taken in the line w, w, Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a sectional plantaken in the line y, y, F ig. l; Fig. L, an enlarged front sectionalview of certain working parts. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ll, and 12- aresections showing detached portions of the machine, and of the workproduced by it.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondng parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to a machine for manufacturng sheet-metal chainsfor which Letters Patent were granted to me hearing date May 4cth, 1858.

The object of the within described invention is to obtain a nachine bywhich the whole work may be performed expeditiously and automaticallyfrom stock consisting of metal plates of a requisite thicknesspreviously prepared in any proper way.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my nvention, I willproceed to describe its Construction and operation.

A represents a bed or horizontal plate which is supported at a suitableheight by any proper means. B, is an upright attached to said plate, theupper part of said upright containing the fulcrum pin a, of a lever C.On the back part of the bed A, a driving shaft D, is supported byuprights Z), b, and on this shaft two cams E, F, are placed, one ofwhich E, actuates the lever C, and the other F, actuates a lever G, thefulcrum of which is at the upper end of an upright c. To the front endof the lever C, a plunger H, is attached by a link d. The plunger isfitted between proper guides e, e, attached to the upright B, and theback end of the lever C, is bent or curved and slotted and works on theshaft D, as shown clearly in Fig. 1, the cam E, acting against a pin f,on the back part of the lever.

To the lower end of the plunger H, two dies I, J, are attached. Thesedies are simply rods, one of which I, is of trilateral form at its lowerpart, a transverse section of which is shown in Fig. 9, or other formcorresponding to the form of the cha in to be made. The other die J, istransversely of polygonal cylindrical, or other form also correspondngto the shape of the chain to be made. In Figs. 4:, 5 and 8, the die J,is represented as being of double polygonal form, one polygonal portionbeing above the other, and the angles of one portion in line with thecenter of the planes or faces of the other portion as shown clearly inFigs. et, 5 and 8, the upper polygonal portion being a trifie 'smallerin diameter than the lower portion. lVithin both dies I, J, rods g, arefitted and allowed to rise and fall freely. These rods are both attachedto a plate K, the upper end of which has a pin z', Secured to it, saidpin fitting in a recess y', in the front end of a lever L, which has itsfulcrum pin Is, in the upper part of the upright B, as shown in Fig. 1.The back end of the lever L, is acted upon by the cam E, which has twofaces Z, m, one of which Z, acts against the pin f', of lever C, and theother m, against the back end of lever L, see Fig. 3. To the lower endof the plate K, a collar n, is attached by a rod 0, which also connectsthe rod h, to the plate, said collar being fitted and working on thelower part of the die J, as shown clearly in Figs. el, 5, and 8.

The lever G, which is in a horizontal position is connected by anadjustable bar M, with a slide N, which is fitted between proper guides;0, 79, attached to a block O, on the front part of the bed A. To theslide N, a bar P, is attached which bar works under a female die Q, thatis fixed in a stock g attached to the block O. The die Q corresponds inform to the male die I the former of course being placed in line withthe latter. The bar P, has a die r, fitted within it. This die is ofcylindrical form and is allowed to turn within the bar P, said die beingattached to a lever s which has a pin z' on its outer end said pinfitting in a double' oblique slot u, in a plate R, attached to the blockO, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The upper surface or face of the die o,is recessed to correspond with the face of the die I, and verticallywithin the die a", a rod 1), is placed the upper end of which isprovided with vertical spurs or projections a', which are at the centerof the face of the die 7' andserve as guides as will be presently shown.

The female die Q, has a concal interior as shown clearly in Figs. l, 2and 4:. In order to insure a good cutting edge this form of the die Q,is essential and in order to prevent an unnecessarly large chamberwithin the die consequent on said conical form a filling b' is employed,said filling being composed of one or more plates, (one only is shown inthe drawings) and extending nearly up to the top of the die. Any softmetal will answer for the filling 25. The lower end of rod e, has acircular boss c' on it and this' boss rests on a spring d' as shownclearly in Figs. 2, 3 and 5. To the underside of the boss c' a swage R,is attached, said swage being' formed of three arms projecting from acylindrical shank as shown clearly in F ig. ll. Directly over the femaledie Q, a cap e', is placed said cap being perforated to allow the maledie I to pass through.

Within the block O, and underneath the slide N, a plate f' is placed.This plate has an opening g' made in it, said opening being formed ofsix radical slots and a polygonal center as shown clearly in Fig. 12,the center of said opening correspondng with the form of the die J. Inthe block O, at a short distance below the plate f', a plane h' isplaced.

This plate has a hub i on its upper surface in which hub three radialgrooves are made to receive three clamps j" shown clearly in F ig. 6.The clamps are simply rectangular bars having` each a notch k' in itsunder side as shown in Fig. 7. Against the outer ends of these clampssprings Z' bear. The inner ends of the clamps y', are notched to formtwo or more faces according to the form of the chain. In Fig. 6, eachclamp has two faces at its inner end the chain to be made being ofhexagonal form as shown clearly in Fig. 6, the chain being indicated inred.

S, is an arm or lever the inner end m of which is of annular form andencompasses the hub i' of plate h'. The inner edge of the annular end m'of arm S, is notched to form a cam as shown clearly by the dotted linesin Fig. 6, and the cam m fits within the recesses or notches ic' of theclamps y". The arm S, is slotted longtudinally and is connected by a rodn' with the lever G. To the lever Gr, an arm T, is attached at rightangles. The outer end of this arm T is connected to a slide U, which hasa pawl 0' attached to it as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

On the top of the die-stock g, a spring p' is attached said springhaving a pin g' attached to its under side, said pin being provided witha leveled or rounded front side as shown in Fi l. Against the outeredges of the levers (i L, sprin r', s', bear respectively. The plate R,n which the oblique slots n, n are made has a tri-lateral plate V,attached by a pivot t'. To the inner side of this plate at its centeraspring u' is attached, said spring having a knob 'u', at its end. Theouter angular edge of plate V is notched to receive a catch w' againstthe outer part of which a spring w' bears.

The operation is as follows: The stock from the chains are made of thinmetal plates A prepared in any proper way and of suitable dimensions.The shaft D, is rotated by any convenient power, and the operator takesone plateat a time and feeds it underneath the cap e' and over the dieQ. The die I, is made to descend by the action of the face Z, of the camE, on the pin f, of the lever C, and said die cuts a blank from theplate corresponding to its face, and also to that of the female die Q,into which the male die passes. The blank falls within and through thedie Q, and is re tained in proper position by the filling b' fallingproperly within the die 7", and being retained therein by the rod g,until the male die I, is elevated free from the die Q. As the die I,ascends the rod g, is retained down on the blank by the action of thepart m, of the cam E, on the lever L, and when the male die is perfectlyfree from the female die the lever L, and rod g, ascend and liberate theblank. Before however the die I, is fully elevated the lever G, movesthe slide N, and block P, and the die r, is brought in line with the dieJ, so that at the next descent of the die I, the die J, which of coursedescends simultaneously with it, will act upon the blank in die 'I', andby being forced down on the center of the blank centrally between thespurs or projections a on rod 1) will swage the blank in the form of acap or cup as shown clearly in Fig. 10. The upper end of rod e, formingthe bottom of die r, while the three fixed recess shape the arms of theblank as the rod o descends, the upper end of the rod e, forming thebase, the upper ends of the arms inclining a little outward. The spursor projections a insure the proper adjustment of the blank within thedie 7',

and also cause the arms of the blank (or link as it may be termed whenbent) to assume a proper form as the die J, and rod e,

descends within the die 7". When the cup,

cap or link is formed by the die J, being forced down in the die 7", thedie J, rises and carries the cap, cup or link with it, the cap, cup orlink adhering to the die in consequence of the decreased diameter of itsupper portion which forms shoulders and causes the cap, cup or link tobind snugl to it. As the die J, ascends the slide TV, bar P, andconsequently the die 7' are moved back to their original position by thelever Gr, the die 7", being brought in line with the die I. The two diesI, J, now

descend the former as before cutting a blank from the plate A and thelatter die J, carrying down the cap, cup or link into the perforation ofthe plate f', and with the uppermost link of the chain'the latter beingheld by the clamps y". The plate f' serves also as a guide to the swageR, which Works through it as will be presently shown, the rod h, andcollar n, either or both being used to insure the discharge of the cupor cap from the die. Simultaneously with the discharge of the cup, capor link a blank is fitted in the die 7", and as the two dies I, J, againascend the die 7', as before is moved underneath the die J, and duringthe movement the die J, is rotated a certain distance in consequence ofthe lever S, pin t, and oblique slot u, and the position of the die 7",is changed relatively with the die J about the one siXth of arevolution. The two dies I, J, again descend, the former I, withoutresult, but the latter J, swages the blank in 1 into a cap, cup or linkas before. During this swaging of the cap or cup or link, the cap cup orlink deposted in the chain previous to the last and consequently thesecond one from the top is clenched by the swage or clenching tool, R,as the latter is forced down by the action of the die J, on the rod u,the center cylindrical portion of the swage keeping the arms of theuppermost link in proper position to receive the succeeding link seeFigs. 4 and 5.

The object in having the die r, partially rotate will now be apparent,for in order to clench the links they must be set alternately in varyingpositions, in order that their arms may interlock, and as in the presentcase the links have three arms, the links must, in order to be properlyadjusted or fitted together be rotated one siXth of a revolution. Eachtime a ling is clenched on the chain the latter is retained by theclamps j; the inner ends of which are pressed against the chain by theaction of the cam m', said clamps also giving the proper external formto the chain performing the double function of clanps and swages. Whenthe die J, descends to adjust a link in the chain the latter is held bythe action of the springs Z' only on the clamps y" and consequently thedie is allowed to feed the chain down each time a link is adjusted toit.

After the operator has fed the plate A over the die Q a short distance,the plate is fed automatically by the pawl o' which catches into theperforations made by the cutting out of the blanks, the catch g', whichalso works into the perforations serving as a retaining or holding pinduring the forward movement of the pawl 0'.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is,

1. The employment or use of the filling b' in the female die Q, whenused in connection with a traveling die 7', for the purpose of insuringthe proper presentation of the blanks to the latter, and at the sametime admitting of a proper cutting edge for the female die Q.

2. The employment or use of a forming die J, in connection with arotating or partially rotatng die 7", arranged substantially as shown toinsure, simultaneously With the process of swaging of the blanks intothe proper shaped links, the proper adjustment of the latter forinterlocking of the same.

3. The decreased diameter of the upper portion of the forming die J, soas to insure the adhesion of the cap, cup, or link, to it and enablesaid die to perform the double function of die and carrier, when saiddie J, is used in connection with the die 7", to operate conjointly asand for the purpose set forth.

4. Constructing the die 7", with a rod 'u', With or without shears orprojections a', and arranged substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

5. The screw rod h, and collar a, either or both, applied to the formingdie J, and arranged to operate in connection with the dic 7', and rodq), substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The clamps y', in connection with the swage or clenching tool R, orits equivalent, arranged to operate conj ointly as shown, and for thepurpose specified.

7. The guide plate f, in connection with the swage or clenching tool R,the former serving as a guide to the latter and insuring its properaction.

8. The swage or clenching tool R, when constructed as shown to bend orclench the arms of the links and at the same time keep the arms of theuppermost link in proper position so that the latter may readily receivethe succeeding link.

J AlMES LANCELOTT.

VVitnesses:

C. M. HUGEEES, 'MICH. HUGHES.

